What is intellectual property? Why Is It A Valuable Asset for The Owner? How Are Intellectual Property Rights Acknowledged and Protected?

What is intellectual property? 

Intellectual property is a broad term that covers intangible assets and legally protected. It is summarized as all rights from the field of intellectual activities, an intangible property created by human wisdom, mainly involving copyright, patent, trademark, and other fields. Works of art in the form of music and literature, as well as discoveries, inventions, symbols, and designs, can be protected as intellectual property. 

Intellectual property rights can be divided into industrial property rights and copyrights. Industrial property rights include patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographical indications. Copyright, on the other hand, includes literary and artistic works.

Why Is It A Valuable Asset for The Owner? 

For business owners, businesses measure value in different ways such as client retention, return on investment, sales, revenues. Intellectual property consists of many different types of valuable assets owned by a company, For instance, trademarks, patents, and copyrights.

Although it’s an intangible asset, intellectual property can be far more valuable than a physical asset and provides a competitive advantage over competitors. Also, an organization with intellectual property assets can utilize it internally or by sharing it externally through royalty rights. In addition, intellectual property is an asset that can be licensed, sold, or assigned regardless of whether a company has a physical location. For instance, amid COVID-19, many physical storefronts struggle to keep their doors open. Without intellectual property protection, researchers and businesses would not get proper compensation for their creations. 

How Are Intellectual Property Rights Acknowledged and Protected?

It may sound very difficult or time-consuming, but it is worth to protect it. For copyright, there is no additional registration procedure to follow. The protection is free and automatic. 

However, copyright does not actually protect an idea itself. It is protected the way the idea has been represented such as brochures, presentations, or websites.

If you want to apply for a patent, registered design, or a trademark this can be done through intellectual property offices such as the UK intellectual property office, depends on where you want to do your business. Also, you can do it either on your own or find a patent solicitor. In addition, online resources like the Business & IP Centre has a number of business events and services that can help. 

Conclusion

A good thing is developed, usually because it targets to solve a problem and the solutions may indeed be very similar or even identical. This is the parallel creation or design. Because, in the same field, the problems are very similar and the principles of the application of technical methods are also the same. Therefore, we must confirm the plagiarism can really exist because of special correspondence and excluding the possibility of parallel creation. In any case, if plagiarism occurs, it is necessary to carefully examine it is protected by law or not.

The Madrid Agreement

The Madrid Agreement was concluded in 1891. By 2012, it had 56 members. The main purpose of this agreement is to simplify the trademark registration application procedures. For instance, after registered in a member country, it can apply for an international trademark registration based on the registered trademark. An application for international registration must designate one or more Contracting Parties in which protection is sought. 

Reference

Gottschalk, P. (2010).  Policing Cyber Crime. Bookboon.

Why Intellectual Property Is So Valuable To Businesses. (2020, June 17). Retrieved January 04, 2021, from https://feldman.law/news/why-intellectual-property-is-so-valuable-to-businesses/

Why you need to protect your Intellectual Property. (2015, July 21). Retrieved January 04, 2021, from https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/why-you-need-to-protect-your-intellectual-property